Cape Breton man starts overdose discussion with 'powerful image' of brother's death

A Cape Breton man says he's received a wave of sympathy and thanks after a social media post about his brother's overdose death.

Barry Bernard of Eskasoni, N.S., posted a picture of his brother, 50-year-old Kevin Bernard, taken on Saturday, just minutes after he passed away in a hospital in Halifax.

"It's a very powerful image. A very sensitive image. I have a lot of people calling me, and saying that they're proud that I put this image on, because I'm not hiding that my brother had an addiction problem," Bernard said.

"I'm letting people know it affects me. It affects everybody," he said.

Within days, the image was shared 25 times, and had attracted more than 400 comments.

'It's a moment that freezes time'

Bernard said he first heard about his brother's overdose last Tuesday night.

It happened in Port Hawkesbury.

Kevin Bernard had stopped breathing by the time he got medical help. He was taken to Halifax for an MRI scan, which showed no activity in his brain.

Barry Bernard said he and two sisters made the decision to remove Kevin Bernard from life-support on Friday.

"My first instinct was, 'What quality of life would my brother want?'" he said. "We'll have to disconnect him, and let the Creator and him decide where he wants to go."

Kevin Bernard died on Saturday morning.

"It's a moment that freezes time. You can't even describe how it feels to lose a brother from drugs," he said.

Bernard said he decided in that instant to take a picture.

"Truthfully, I'm a photographer. When I seen that moment to capture, I had to capture it. Because if I looked the other way, when I looked back it would have been gone."

Hopes to start a discussion

Bernard hopes by sharing the picture, he could start a discussion about the risks and consequences of illegal drugs.

"To send a message to people, and families having their loved ones with addiction problems, and young people in our community that have addiction problems, to see what I see, in my brother's eyes, in his death bed."

An anti-poverty advocate in Sydney said she admires Bernard's choice.

"That must have been a hard decision to do that. But a very brave one at the same time," said Christine Porter, executive director of the Ally Centre of Cape Breton.

'You stop... scrolling'

Porter said she recognized the scene in the photo from years of working with people with substance use disorders.

But she'd never seen it so starkly on social media.

"You stop, all of a sudden, scrolling. It's one of those things that gets your attention very quickly," she said.

Porter said sharing this intimate image of an overdose death can be helpful for the community, but also for the victim's family.

"I think it was a smart decision. It certainly helps get a message out there around the dangers of drug use. But it also helps to show that there is no shame in it. People should not be ashamed of how their loved ones die. And overdose shouldn't carry that shame with it," she said.

Kevin loved the outdoors

Bernard said his brother was a gentle man with a ready sense of humour, who loved the outdoors, especially fishing.

He said Kevin Bernard had struggled with addictions for more than 20 years.

He said doctors aren't sure yet what drugs took his life.

Bernard doesn't think his brother would be concerned about the picture, or all the attention it's attracted on Facebook.

"I think he would just tell me, 'Let's go fishing,'" Bernard said. "He would just laugh at it and say, you know, 'Let's go fishing.'"